cilantro wrote:Maybe the falafel -- Mizrahi's is far superior, but it's not that nearby.

Gotta respectfully disagree with you on this. Mizrahi certainly makes a distinctive version but for my palate its somewhat bland and uninteresting. In spite of the repeated service gaffes I've experienced at PI, I still like most of their food.

=R=

Man, all of this falafel talk has me reminiscing about the Falafel King in Skokie. IMO, that was good falafel.

"Sandwiches are wonderful. You don't need a spoon or a plate!" Paul Lynde

Dave148 wrote:Man, all of this falafel talk has me reminiscing about the Falafel King in Skokie. IMO, that was good falafel.

The day the Falafel King morphed into whatever it was they tried to make it was very sad. Back then, my office was across the street from Pita Inn (and Poochies), but I would always go the Falafel King instead of Pita Inn. I loved their falafel, which were smaller and rounder then any falafel I have ever seen and nice and crunchy as a result.

For comparison's sake, I went to Mizrahi yesterday for the first time. At 5PM, it was dead. But the place was impressively kitchen-clean, and I ordered the $15.00 falafel plate. What I got was 12-14 falafel balls, a heaping mound of saffron-tinted rice pilaf, beautifully grilled and crunchy red & yellow pepper with zucchini, and a large-sized Jerusalem salad (like Pita Inn's but without the juice). Hot & white sauce on the side. The white was identical to Pita Inn, the hot sauce quite different.

Look, Mizrahi is at least twice the price of Pita Inn, even allowing for the comparitive portion size. Whether that's a function of being strictly Kosher, as an Italian I can't say. But I really liked the difference in the falafel from Pita Inn--a less fluorescent green inside, and somewhat coarser. It's a nice change, but Pita Inn's top-to-bottom value & quality are tough to beat.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I want to report that on Wednesday of this week we carried out lunch from Pita Inn in Skokie and every single item we ordered was included! The streak is over.

Btw, the lunch was really delicious and it included some of the creamiest hummus I've had from PI in a long time. Also, the hot sauce was particularly fiery, which was a surprising treat.

=R=

"They Love you, they really, really love you". Additionally, you deserve a gold star for trying again. Did the delivery person double check the order at the restaurant?

LOL! I like the food at PI quite a bit, so full-on a boycott is not in the cards. But I deserve no credit for essentially being too lazy to get my own lunch when the rest of my co-workers decided they were getting PI. I could not have made less effort than I did to get this lunch, without finding someone to feed it to me, or chew it for me.

The people who went to pick it up didn't check every single item but they did count items in the bags. They knew when they left the restaurant with the order that it included the correct number of items. Also, the person who placed the order made sure to request that special care be given since there had been several screw-ups.

Since my co-workers know that PI and I have 'a history,' I was suprised they didn't eff with me by hiding my items or pretending in some way that they were forgotten again. I was fully expecting that to happen but it didn't.

=R=

I am not interested in how I would evaluate the Springbank in a blind tasting. Every spirit has its story, and I include it in my evaluation, just as I do with human beings. --Thad Vogler

Carryout from Pita Inn in Wheeling last night: Since I have another week or so of restricted diet after my recent hospital stay, I ordered a little differently than I might normally, skipping the usual spreads and fried items.

More often than not, I get the combination feast (a bargain, especially in the weekday "businessman's lunch"), but last night I really enjoyed the lamb kebab ... juicy ground lamb, lightly minty and nicely grilled with pink interior. I love the buttery rice pilaf that comes with most meals at Pita Inn, and last night I ate every grain.

Tabbouleh was good, but could have used more mint for my taste. The stuffed grape leaves were disappointing -- I order them often, but last night's came with mushy filling -- way, way overcooked rice. Usually, they're much better.

Despite that one flaw, I continue to think that for fresh, fast and cheap, these places rock. The Skokie and Glenview locations also keep slightly late hours for the 'burbs, which is a plus.

I'm not picking nits, maybe I am. I'm not trying to pick nits, let's say. It's called the "Business Lunch Special" or the "Combination Lunch Special." It very well may have been called the "BusinessMAN'S Lunch Special" before, but lest any of the Steinem types get insensed...

Anyway, for 5.65 out the door, a lunch special (no chicken,) a small baba ghannouj, and an extra harissa might be the best lunch deal in creation. Furthermore, you gotta be ready to tackle a mound of food that size.

Side note for Ronnie_s:I kid you not. Bin Hai. (I think you're in the neighborhood?) New management or ownership or something. Kung Pao Chicken lunch special. I'd love to hear another viewpoint on this. Not sesame chicken, not kung pao beef, not vegetable delight. Kung Pao Chicken. I think I must be nuts, cuz I think the stuff is fantastic.

We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.

seebee wrote:I'm not picking nits, maybe I am. I'm not trying to pick nits, let's say. It's called the "Business Lunch Special" or the "Combination Lunch Special." It very well may have been called the "BusinessMAN'S Lunch Special" before, but lest any of the Steinem types get insensed...

Yes, I think you're right about this.

seebee wrote:Side note for Ronnie_s:I kid you not. Bin Hai. (I think you're in the neighborhood?) New management or ownership or something. Kung Pao Chicken lunch special. I'd love to hear another viewpoint on this. Not sesame chicken, not kung pao beef, not vegetable delight. Kung Pao Chicken. I think I must be nuts, cuz I think the stuff is fantastic.

I will be certain to give it a try, and soon. Thanks, for the tip.

=R=

I am not interested in how I would evaluate the Springbank in a blind tasting. Every spirit has its story, and I include it in my evaluation, just as I do with human beings. --Thad Vogler

auxen1 wrote:I did not know that you could knock off a dollar by eliminating the chicken. Same deal with the big piece of beef? Which is the least flavorful item on the plate.

Well, there are two beef piece type things in the special. The ground "kifta," and the chunk o meat (shish kabab.)Assuming you mean the shish kabab:

I have a question for you. Do you normally frequent the one on Milwaukee? The reason: I have heard from quite a few, and also experienced 6 or 7 times, that the one on Milwaukee's shish kabab is horrible. I work closer to the wheeling location now, and of the literally hundreds of times I've gotten the lunch special, not once has their shish kebob been anywhere close to remotely as bad as the shish kebab at the one on Milwaukee is.

To answer your question, however, no, it is not offered on the menu to sub out the beef chunks (There should be two pieces per lunch special) and pay a dollar less. You might want to ask if it's possible, but the menu only lists chicken as the optional part of a lunch special. Up until about a year ago, you had to ask for chicken to get it. NOW, you have to ask for it without chicken if you don't want it, or it will come standard. (At least at the Wheeling location anyway.) Just for another viewpoint, at the one in Wheeling, I'd rather have Chicken than the schawarma. I think their shish kabab chunks are really flavorful, and almost always very tender. The schawarma can be lacking in flavor sometimes, imo.

We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.

Whenever I eat at the Glenview Pita Inn, I always kibitz with Adel (the owner's brother-in-law) and ask when they're opening a store in Florida so Mama Fresser and I can eat there during the winter. Plans for the Florida store are on hold, but Adel now tells me that Pita Inn is scheduled to open in Naperville in about 18 months from now.

I'm already aiming the Fressermobile down I-294 in eager anticipation...

All persons who used either a credit card or debit card at any of Defendant’s places of business, where Defendant provided that person an electronically printed receipt at the point of sale or transaction that displayed the expiration date of that person’s credit card or debit card, for a time period beginning on February 1, 2011 to June 13, 2011.

Who cares if the date was printed on it? I don't see why that's a big deal, especially to file a lawsuit.

I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. ~ Jason LoveThere is no pie in Nighthawks, which is why it's such a desolate image. ~ Happy StomachIn the world of apples, Pink Lady runs the whorehouse. ~ James Napoli